Emma Watson nude photo threat is hoax

A website threatening to leak nude images of Emma Watson has been revealed to be a hoax campaign carried out by a marketing company with the intention of shutting down infamous message-board 4Chan.

The website EmmaYouAreNext.com was set up last weekend following the second set of celebrity leaks by hackers who took advantage of poor security in Apple's iCloud storage service.

The website featured a countdown timer, which indicated that nude images of the Harry Potter star would be published last Saturday, 27 September.

Some people initially claimed the website was set up in response to Watson giving a rousing speech on feminism as part of her role as United Nations women's goodwill ambassador, with most suggesting the website had been set up by 4Chan.

However, the website has now been revealed as a publicity stunt carried out by Rantic Marketing, and the EmmaYouAreNext.com website now redirects to the Rantic website where the company is calling on US president Barack Obama to ban 4Chan over its publication of hundreds of explicit images of celebrities including actor Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Ariana Grande, and Kirsten  Dunst.

Rantic calls itself a "social media marketing enterprise" and has been linked in the past to campaigns for fast-food outlet McDonalds and developers of the Grand Theft Auto series of videogames Rockstar Game

Credit: Ibtimes